Balloon boy parents plead guilty

Nov 13, 2009, 16:54 GMT

Los Angeles - The parents who triggered a massive alert after claiming their six-year-old son was adrift in an experimental helium balloon pleaded guilty Friday to charges related to the deception.

At a hearing in Larimer County, Colorado, the father, Richard Heene, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant, while the mother Mayumi Heene, pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge of false reporting to authorities.

Their lawyer David Lane previously said that the parents were pleading guilty to avoid the possibility of Mayumi being deported to Japan if found guilty of more serious charges.

He said that prosecutors had agreed to a sentence of probation with the possibility of up to 90 days in jail for Richard Heene and up to 60 days in jail for his wife.

'Upon reviewing the evidence, arguably, Mayumi could have possibly ended up being deported and Richard could have proceeded to trial and had a good chance at an acquittal,' Lane said. 'This, however, would have put the family at grave risk of seeing a loving, caring, compassionate wife and mother ripped from the family and deported. That was not an acceptable risk, thus these pleas.'

Friday's hearing brought a close to the bizarre drama that unfolded in mid-October when the parents had called authorities claiming that their son Falcon had accidentally taken off aboard the experimental craft.

News helicopters followed the balloon as aviation authorities struggled to come up with a plan to rescue the boy, who at one point reached a height of more than 2,500 metres. But when the balloon eventually floated back down to earth after an 80-kilometre flight it was found to be empty.

The child emerged later to say that he was hiding in the attic, prompting immediate suspicions that the entire scenario had been a publicity stunt by the family which hoped to star in a reality television series.